True Blood UK Series 2: One By One
by Vixen-Von-Rouge
Summary: Having thought that their troubles were over, the pack are now faced with a terrifying enemy that makes Elizabeth look tame and puts every werewolf in the county in danger. Meanwhile, Hannah is put through her paces with her new position and Rosie is faced with a ghost from her past. (Copyright 2014 by SJ Wickham only for the original characters and storyline.)
1. Chapter 1

The she-wolf tears through the forest, jumping over fallen logs and dodging through the trees. It's been years since Samantha has stepped foot in this part of the woods but somehow remembers the route to the flower field it as if it were only yesterday. She can hear the paws of a bigger wolf following her; Gaspard is hot on her trail, following her every twist and turn, trying to keep up whilst making his way through the unknown territory. Samantha stops at the edge of a wide clearing that's covered in patches of clover and bluebells. Shifting back into her human form, she steps out into the open.

"Elly!" She calls out.

There's no answer. She panics and wonders if she's too late or perhaps this has all been a cruel joke. A large black wolf runs up to her side and transforms into Gaspard.

"Where is she?" He asks.

"ELLY!" Samantha shouts even louder.

"Sam," a weak voice answers her, "Sam, I'm here."

Peering over a small, grassy knoll, Samantha sees a hand, waving so feebly that it's barely a twitch of the fingers. She rushes over and is stopped dead in her tracks.

"Oh, shit, Elly," she gasps.

Her sister's short, brown hair is clumped together with soil and blood and her body is scattered with claw marks that drag across her legs, stomach and arms. Her shoulder has a deep, bite impression that oozes red fluid. Elly's features are hidden by dirt, covering all but her dark eyes that are overflowing with tears.

"Sam, you came," Elly cries, gritting her teeth in pain as her body shakes with each sob.

"Where's your phone?" Samantha asks, looking around her frantically.

She locates Elly's mobile and dials 999.

"Elly," Gaspard says, leaning over the injured girl, "Are there any others? Where's the rest of your pack?"

"I don't know," Elly weeps, "I don't know where they are; they chased them."

Gaspard looks around at the trees surrounding the clearing. The pack could have run in any direction. He runs to the edge and quickly searches the bushes and grass all the way around, looking for damage to the foliage to give him a clue to which direction they may have been driven.

"Hello, I need an ambulance and I need a team of paramedics," Samantha says, trying to keep herself together whilst she's on the phone, "I'm in the Chelmsford forest about half a mile in from North New Forest Road. My sister and her friends; they've been attacked by dogs."

Elly lets out another sob and Samantha kneels down beside her.

"Tell them to hurry," Elly pleads, "It hurts."

"I have my sister here with me; her name is Elly Hopkins. We're looking for her friends right now because they ran," Samantha tells the woman on the other end of the phone, "She's been bitten and scratched everywhere and her friends probably have been too. She's bleeding a lot. Please, get here as fast as you can."

Samantha hangs up the phone and puts her hand on Elly's cheek. For now, her mind has pushed aside all their history and out focus on helping her get through all of this.

"Sam!" Gaspard shouts from the other side of the clearing, "I've found them!"

"He's found them?" Elly repeats, "Are they ok? Are they alive?"

"Elly, I'm going to be right back," Samantha promises, "I just have to go with Gaspard and see who he's found. All you have to tell me is how many pack members you have."

"There are five including me," Elly whimpers.

Samantha nods and stands. Gaspard motions for her to come with him and she jumps the knoll and runs to meet him.

"It's not pretty," he tells her.

"Are they alive?" Samantha questions.

"One of them is gone and the other three are hanging on by a thread. Those paramedics better hurry or we'll lose all of them."

"Take me to them."

Gaspard grabs Samantha's arm and leads her through the trees. Only a few metres in, the grass has been stained with a dark red. Four bodies lay on the ground, three of them taking shallow and laboured breaths.

"They've got the same injuries as Elly," Gaspard says.

"This is insane," Samantha utters, "Who or what would do something like this?"

"I don't know," Gaspard shakes his head, "But whoever it was seems to have had it in for your sister."

XXXXXXXXXX

Half an hour passes until the paramedics reach the clearing. Gaspard had retraced his steps and collected both his and Samantha's clothes, barring Samantha's t-shirt which he replaced with his own shirt, then found his way to the roadside in order to wait for the ambulances and guide them back to where Elly and her pack mates were lying.

"Is she going to be ok?" Samantha asks one of the EMTs.

"We'll take care of her and her friends as best we can," the man tells her as he helps load the stretchers into the ambulance.

"But she'll make it, right?" Samantha quizzes him.

"Miss, please, let us do our jobs," the man replies as he steps inside the van and shuts the door.

The sirens begin to wail as the ambulances speed off, heading back to the hospital. Samantha drops to her knees.

"Sam, are you alright?" Gaspard exclaims, crouching down next to her and putting his arm around her shoulders.

"What the fuck just happened, Gaspard?" She utters.

"I wish I knew the answer to that, Mon chéri," Gaspard sighs.

"I don't even know what I'm doing here," she says, "I just came running to the aid of someone I despise and I'm asking if she's going to be ok. I shouldn't give a shit about that... That bitch and her gang of fucking sheep!"

"It's because you're nothing like her."

XXXXXXXXXX

Back at the house, Gaspard and Samantha find only Hannah, Alec, Rosie and Lance. Lance had sent everyone else home, knowing that the couple will appreciate fewer people being present.

"Guys, what's happened?" Rosie asks.

"Mate, is that yours?" Lance frowns, looking at Gaspard's blood-stained shirt.

Samantha walks past Rosie and takes a sits on the sofa. She runs her fingers through her hair and groans.

"My sister and her pack just effectively got wiped out," she tells them.

"You have a sister?" Hannah exclaims, "Since when did you have a sister?"

"Since always," Samantha snaps, "And she really isn't much of one."

"Sam, she doesn't know," Gaspard reminds his girlfriend.

"I'm sorry," Samantha sighs, "I just... I can't deal with this right now."

Samantha stands and makes her way upstairs, slamming the bedroom door behind her.

"It's best we leave the questions for another time," Gaspard says, "This is going to be a difficult one to explain and I think she needs some time to process everything."

"Yeah, no problem," Lance nods.

"Hannah, it's time for you to go to ground," Gaspard orders.

"I'll go to bed too," Rosie says.

Whilst the others say their goodnights, Gaspard ventures up the stairs to find Samantha. As he enters the bedroom, he hears the shower running. He strips off his dirty shirt and sighs loudly. He, himself, can barely register the events that have unfolded tonight, meaning that he can't possibly imagine what must be going through Samantha's head at the moment. He joins her in the bathroom and finds her standing perfectly still in the bath under the monsoon shower head, fully clothed, letting the water slowly wash away the soil and blood from her skin. Gaspard perches on the edge of the bath tub.

"I know you don't want to talk about it right now but you need to remember that..."

Gaspard stops and stares hard at Samantha, noticing that she's attempting to steady herself against the wall as she begins to sway. He swings his legs around and stands in the bath with her. As he reaches out to touch her shoulder, Samantha's legs give out underneath her. Gaspard catches her before she hits he bottom of the tub and holds up her dead weight.

"Rosie!" He yells.

Rosie, who has retired to her room, comes running through the bedroom and stops in the doorway of the bathroom.

"Oh my goodness, is she alright?" Rosie cries.

"I can't exactly figure anything out until I get her out," Gaspard replies, "But I'm worried I'm going to slip when I step out and I don't want to let go so I need you to take her legs for me."

Rosie rushes over to grab Samantha's ankles and help pull her up and over the edge of the bath tub. Once he's clear of the chance of falling, Gaspard picks up his girlfriend and takes her to the bed. Rosie lays a towel on top of the duvet and he carefully places her down.

"Do you think she passed out from shock?" Rosie asks.

"That's likely but I'm no expert," Gaspard says, moving Samantha's wet hair away from her face, "She didn't hit her head or anything so I don't think we need to call an ambulance. I'll wait until she comes to."

"Do you want me to wait with you?" Rosie offers.

"No, its ok," Gaspard replies, "Get some sleep."

Rosie nods and silently leaves the room. Gaspard massages his temples between his thumb and index finger. For months after he first found Samantha, she had cried most nights and when she finally opened up to him, he discovered the full extent of the pain and mental suffering that her one and only known family member had caused. He's thankful that she's wearing his shirt instead of her t-shirt because it would have been much harder to remove her wet clothes. After undressing her, he lays Samantha under the covers and tucks her in before retiring to the bed himself. He kisses her on the forehead before falling into a deep slumber.

XXXXXXXXXX

When the morning light filters in through the curtains, Samantha awakens and finds herself facing a sleeping Gaspard. She reaches out her hand and strokes the side of his face. His sky blue eyes gradually open.

"Hey," he whispers, "How are you feeling?"

"I think I'm ok," she whispers back, "But why am I on the wrong side of the bed?"

"When you passed out, I just put you on the closest side of the bed to me at the time and after that I didn't want to start dragging you around."

"I passed out?" Samantha questions.

"I think you were in a bit of shock," Gaspard says.

"I still am," Samantha sighs, resting her hand on the pillow, "Last night feels like a bad dream."

"It did look like something pulled out of a nightmare," Gaspard nods.

"I wish it were just a nightmare," Samantha admits, "But it wasn't and you know as well as I do that this isn't going to stop. I'm going to have to go and see her, Gaspard. I don't want to but we need to know what happened."

"Mon chéri, it's not going to be like last time," he promises, gently brushing his hand down her arm.

"I know; you're here this time."

"I won't let her hurt you again."

Samantha shuffles over and nuzzles into the crook of Gaspard's neck. He drapes his arm over her and closes his eyes only to be awakened ten seconds later by the loud sound of Muse blaring out from the pocket of his jeans. Slowly, he sits up, his messy hair hinders his vision.

"Please answer that. It's hurting my ears," Samantha groans.

Gaspard swings his legs around and pushes himself up off of the bed. Finding his jeans from the night before on the floor, he searches through the pockets. Coins fall out as he retrieves his phone and looks at the number on the screen; Doctor Coleman. He answers.

"Hugh, how can I help you," he says.

At the mention of the doctors name, Samantha sits bolt upright.

"It is about Elly?" She asks.

Gaspard puts his hand up to signal to her that he's trying to listen.

"Ok, thank you, I'll let her know," he nods.

Samantha watches as he ends the call and looks up at her.

"What did he say?"

"Your sisters awake. We can go and see her soon."

"Today," Samantha insists.

"Sam, it's a bit soon, don't you think?" Gaspard asks.

"No," Samantha disagrees, "I need to know."

Gaspard knows that there is no arguing with her. She is determined to get answers and he won't be able to stop her.

"Ok," he nods, "Let's get ready and we'll go."

XXXXXXXXXX

Samantha and Gaspard stand outside the room where Elly is being cared for. Samantha stares through the gaps in the slatted blinds.

"What on earth do you say to someone you haven't seen in nearly five years because they threw you out of your own home?" She asks.

"I honestly don't know, Mon chéri," Gaspard replies.

"A part of me doesn't want to be here and it's screaming at me to run away," Samantha tells him, "Yet, part of me is saying that I should stay and see what she has to say for herself."

"I don't think the reasons for why she did it have changed," Gaspard says.

"I know that," Samantha sighs, "But the least she owes me right now is a thank you and an explanation of why, of all the people in the world, did she contact me for help."

"Then that's what you say to her," Gaspard states.

Samantha grabs the door handle and takes a deep breath before slowly opening it. Elly looks up as Samantha steps in.

"Sam," she says, weakly, "I wondered when you were going to come and see me."

"What happened to you, Elly?" Samantha asks, walking up to the bed.

"After all this time, you don't even say hello first," Elly replies.

"Hi," Samantha says, bluntly, "What happened to you?"

Elly sighs. She doesn't know why she bothered mentioning Samantha's lack of enthusiasm upon speaking to her. She shouldn't expect any more than what she's getting.

"We were having a pack run. All five of us were just racing each other through the trees. Then we heard screaming and when we stopped and regrouped, there was only four of us," Elly tells her, "Grace had disappeared and we knew; we knew that those screams were hers. It sounded so awful. I've never heard anything like it before and it terrified me. By the time we found her again it was too late."

"I know she was in a bad state when the paramedics came and got you all," Samantha says.

"She was in bad state?" Elly cries, "She was mauled, Sam. Her arms and legs were nothing but shreds of flesh and her throat had been torn out. We could barely recognise her. Please, tell me how that's only a bad state?"

"That's all I was told," Samantha replies, "They didn't exactly give me a detailed description of the injuries. Can you remember anything else?"

"Not really. They came out of nowhere."

"Who did?"

"I don't know but there was more than one of them."

"How many did you see?"

"I'm not sure, maybe five or six; definitely one for each of us."

"Do you remember what they looked like? What were they; human, vampire, werewolf, shifter?"

"They were some sort of shifter. I couldn't say whether they were just wolf or not but I could see them in the shadows. When they took us down, it was in their human form. But they changed and that's when they started..."

"That's when they started attacking you."

"Yes. They clawed and bit and beat us until we couldn't fight back. I thought I was going to die. I don't know why they didn't finish us off in the same way they did with Grace."

"Maybe they thought you were hurt so bad that you wouldn't make it anyway."

Elly's face becomes one of panic. She is hit with the sudden realisation that she wasn't the only one still alive when help finally arrived.

"Did we all make it?" She questions, "Are the others still alive?"

Samantha shakes her head as tears well up in her sisters eyes.

"I'm afraid only Harriet is left. Callia died on the way to the hospital. Gabby lasted until the morning but her injuries were just too much for even a wolf to heal," Samantha replies.

"Oh no," Elly chokes, covering her face with her hands.

Samantha watches as her sister sobs. She doesn't know what to do; whether or not to comfort her or just continue standing there.

"Don't worry," Samantha says, "Harriet has been put in a drug induced coma for a while but they'll be bringing her out of it in a couple of days."

Elly doesn't answer but continues to cry. Samantha begins to feel awkward; still not knowing what to do. She decides to take the route of the door, leaving her sister alone in the room to grieve.

"How did it go?" Gaspard asks.

"I got some of what she remembers," Samantha sighs, "But when she found out about her pack members she shut down so I'm going to leave it for now."

"How do you feel now you've spoken to her?"

"I can't really pin-point an exact emotion right now. I don't think any of them are good though."

Gaspard puts his arm around Samantha's shoulder as they leave the hospital. He doesn't want to say too much to her. He knows it's still a painful subject for her to talk about and it will be even worse now that the person who caused and is still causing that pain has jumped back into her life with no warning. The truth is that he wants answers just as much as she does.


	2. Chapter 2

"We need a pack meeting," Gaspard states.

"Sounds like a plan," Lance agrees, "I'm guessing that means Sam's sister had a good amount of information to hand over."

"I won't lie to you, she didn't give us an awful lot to go by," Gaspard admits, "But it's better to inform everyone as we go along than keep everything a secret until we think we know enough. It might be too late by that time."

"True enough," Lance nods, "We don't know what these people are after."

"Exactly," Gaspard confirms, "They may just be after Elly and her pack for whatever reason but there's also a chance that it's not just them that they're targeting. I would rather play it safe."

"Whilst we're on the subject of Elly," Lance says, deviating from the main conversation, "How is Sam coping with the return of her estranged sibling?"

Gaspard pauses for a moment before answering. To anyone else, he would have lied and said that Sam is just a bit stressed but other than that, fine. But he can't lie to Lance, he's his best friend of seven years and never once have they betrayed each other's trust; not even with words.

"She's... Trying to deal with this as best she can," he sighs, "And I'm trying my best to help her but this has always been one of those thing I could never help her put behind her."

"We all have that one thing that we can't forget, no matter how hard we try. There's been a few of those for me; times where I've woken up next to a girl I really shouldn't have invited into my flat or even started talking to at the bar in the first place. I try to forget some of the faces but sometimes it's just impossible."

"Not quite the same thing."

"I'm messing about but don't try to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. You can't deny your man whore times, no matter how many years ago they were."

"I don't deny them; I just would rather not remember them. I hope you didn't come here to reminisce about past mistakes."

"No mate, I came here to see if you were all alright as well as get last night's story and a free cup of coffee."

"I'll tell you everything once we have the whole pack together. There's no point in me repeating myself," Gaspard says, "Plus, I want to see if Sam is up for visiting her sister again; just to see if we can get anything else out of her."

"Sooner or later, she's going to run out of questions about the attack and she'll start an attack of her own."

"That's why I'm going with her; though that might be a good idea."

"It is. Do you know what else would be a good idea?"

"What's that?"

Lance holds up his empty coffee mug and grins. Gaspard rolls his eyes and snatches it out of his hand.

XXXXXXXXXX

Gaspard walks out of the bathroom as he towel dries his hair, wearing nothing but his light blue boxers.

"Are you sure you want to go back?" He asks.

"For the hundredth time; yes," Samantha sighs.

The alpha studies his girlfriend's face as she quietly sorts through the sheets of paper laid out on the bed before her, every so often taking a pencil to one of them and writing her name. Ian still hasn't mastered the art of sending the primary work rota via email.

"Sorry," Gaspard says, "I'm just worried that you'll start to..."

"Revert back to my old self; crying every night because I can't handle being around her and the aura of spite she brings when I see her?" Samantha finishes his sentence, moving her eyes to him.

"That's not exactly how I would put it," Gaspard frowns, hanging his towel up on the back of the bathroom door.

"Gaspard," Samantha begins, "Not for a single second have I ever forgotten all the awful things she has said and done to me. But, it doesn't rule me anymore. I'm not the same girl I was four years ago. I know I said I was afraid and wished it was all some horrible nightmare but after seeing her for that first time the other day, I realise that, yes it's painful to even look at her, but it's not going to kill me. I'm so much stronger and you know that because you helped me."

Gaspard's mouth curves into a smile. Samantha takes her attention back to her work rota. He sits himself beside her and looks over her shoulder; she has jotted her name down in a majority of the boxes.

"I can come in with you," Gaspard suggests, "If you want me to."

"I would like that," Samantha smiles, leaning back to rest on him.

"I know that you still have a few hours to make up for, but you should probably give yourself some time to breathe."

"If I'm taking tomorrow off then I need to make that up as well. It makes sense to just put it all into one week so I can get it over and done with."

"Seems fair, but what if you need to go and see your sister again?"

"I'll cross that bridge if I come to it."

Gaspard knows that Samantha is purposely trying to fill her time in order to keep busy and stop her mind wandering into dark places, but he holds his tongue.

XXXXXXXXXX

The creak of the door opening draws Elly out of the depths of her own mind. She looks at her sister's cold and irked face as she enters the room. Samantha is followed by a man that looks vaguely familiar to her.

"You're the man that helped my pack," she says, "Thank you."

"I wouldn't thank me just yet," he says.

Elly looks at him; confused by what he means. This man is someone that Samantha must have confided in. He's clearly aware of the tension between herself and her older sibling. Samantha leans on the rails at the end of Elly's bed.

"We need more information on the people that attacked you," Samantha requests.

"I thought as much," Elly replies, "I didn't think that this was a social visit."

Samantha sighs inwardly and averts her eyes downwards. Gaspard watches her carefully, keeping an eye on the level of frustration showing on her face. He knows that he can't allow anything to get to her; if their communication breaks down, they'll get nothing out of Elly.

"Please, don't be difficult," Samantha frowns, looking back at Elly, "You said last time that there were at least five individuals that attacked you. Have you remembered the exact number or are you still unsure?"

"I'm still not sure. Did you know that the doctors said if those bastards had punctured Harriet's chest a few centimetres over to the left, they would have hit her heart instead of her lung?"

"No, I didn't. She's a lucky girl but that's not what we're talking about right now."

"There couldn't have been more than one attacking her. She has almost the same wounds as me, just in different places."

"Ok, that's two."

"In such little time it took for them to destroy Grace's body, I would say two or three were capable of doing that."

"Potentially four; it could have been the same two but we found the others in the same place we found Harriet."

"They were almost in a similar state to Grace. I asked the doctor."

"I make that more like six than five."

"Five, five hundred, five thousand; who cares? They're gone."

"Is there anything else? Did you see what they looked like?"

"Red; they were covered in red."

"That would have been blood."

"Yep; Grace's blood, my blood, Harriet's blood, Gabby's..."

"Elly," Samantha says, "Please, only focus on what they looked like, not what they did, because right now, you need to tell me who did it."

"I've told you before; they were shifters," Elly tells her, "I'm not sure what kind of shifter. They could have been werewolves, I don't know."

"And you can't remember anything else? Samantha asks.

"They were strong. Stronger than all of my pack put together," Elly says, "Not even you and that monster you hide would have stood a chance."

"You should watch what you're saying," Gaspard warns.

"Oh, come off it," Elly remarks, "You know what she is; you must do. Looking at the state of your face, I'm guessing you've had quite a close look."

Gaspard growls viciously, his eyes are set alight with anger and he steps towards Elly, bending down to level their heads. Her face loses some colour, his scars far more frightening up close.

"You should show a bit more respect to those above you," he snaps, "Especially since you just thanked me for helping save you."

Elly gives a sideways glance to Samantha.

"Oh, this is your alpha," she leers, looking back to Gaspard, "I'm an alpha too, you know."

"Not anymore," he states.

The smug look on Elly's face disappears. The words cut straight through her. He's right, she has no pack to command, no authority to go back to except one wolf; Harriet. As far as the structure of a werewolf community goes, she's a lone wolf. Her eyes drop as Gaspard returns to his full height.

"They were all white," Elly says, "At least, I think they were. That's what it looked like; flashes of white running across the field."

"That's everything?" Samantha questions.

"That's everything," Elly confirms, "If you don't mind, I'd like you to get out now."

"Fine by me," Samantha replies.

She wastes no time making her way out of the hospital room. Gaspard holds the door open for her.

"I don't want you seeing Harriet," Elly calls out, "If she knows something then I'll pass on a message but stay away from her!"

Gaspard wordlessly shuts the door behind him.

"She's got a fucking cheek," Samantha growls as they make their way down the corridor.

"She's upset," Gaspard says.

"No, she's Elly," Samantha corrects him, "If something doesn't go her way, or she doesn't like what's going on around her, she will always take it out on other people. She'll never take responsibility for anything. Granted, this even wasn't her fault, but with the way she was talking to us, in her head, she's aiming the blame at us."

"It's impossible to blame us for the attack," Gaspard frowns.

"No," Samantha shakes her head, "But her logic will tell her that we could have gotten there sooner, making it our fault that she lost those two other pack members."

"Wow," he breathes.

When they reach the doors of the hospital, Samantha stops and stands against the outside wall. She inhales deeply before letting the air out of her lungs in one loud exhale.

"It will be the thought process she used when she decided to kick me of her life," she recollects.

"Don't think about that," Gaspard requests, not wanting her to start dwelling on the past.

Samantha puts her arms around his waist. She sighs as she rests her head on his chest and becomes engulfed in his arms.

"Elly doesn't like you," she smiles.

"I'm not very fond of her either," he replies, "At least we got some more information about what we're dealing with," Gaspard sighs, "I think suffering some spite was worth it."

"Yep, now all we need to do it figure out what to do with the information we have," Samantha nods.

XXXXXXXXXX

The pack seats themselves comfortably on the sofa and armchairs. All of them are eager to hear what Gaspard has to say. None of them, except for Lance, knows more than the simple fact that Samantha's sister has reappeared and brought with her a whole heap of problems.

"Right, guys, hush your gums," Samantha calls over their chattering.

Gaspard raises an eyebrow at Samantha as she parks herself on the arm of the sofa, next to Lance, and grins at him.

"As we all know, there was an attack on Sam's sister's pack last week. We don't know who attacked them yet but we do have a vague description and the circumstances in which this all took place, "Gaspard explains, "At the moment, it looks like an unprovoked attack from out of the blue but everyone with a brain knows that there's a reason behind everything. However, until we find that reason, we're just going to have to make assumptions. From what Elly has told us, there were about six individuals present at the time, all of which were the same species; that being some type of shape shifter."

"To be honest, to do that kind of damage in such a short amount of time and to be able to work in a team like that, it has to be werewolves," Imogen says, "As honourable as our kind try to be, there's always going to be those who give us a bad name."

"A rogue pack, you mean?" Victoria asks.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about," Imogen nods.

"Ok, we'll refer to this group as 'the rogue pack' then," Gaspard continues, "Elly described them as being red and white; the red presumably being blood."

"Six, white werewolves running around Essex without being detected," Nathan frowns, "Even a pack that's crap at tracking would pick up that many scents happening at once so that's quite something."

"It is," Gaspard agrees, "I'm hoping the reason we haven't picked up on it is because they stuck to Elly's territory. Otherwise, I would be very concerned. Not much gets past anyone else's borders unnoticed."

"Except maybe Nicholas'," Imogen laughs.

"He has no borders," Samantha remarks, "He struts around London claiming it's all his."

"Twat," Lance states.

"I think we probably need to focus less on what Nicholas is or isn't doing and more on what's happened," Gaspard barks.

"We can't do much about it, mate," lance replies, "They've attacked and now they're gone."

"Actually," Ian starts, "We don't know that they're gone. Since this entire event happened, no one has been back to Elly's territory. They could have taken it over."

"Whilst I'd like to believe it would be that simple to find them, I think it's likely that they will still be in hiding," Gaspard says, "Word travels fast and a takeover like that would have turned more than a few heads. Many wolves would find it so barbaric that they would retaliate as one whole unit to get rid of them. I can't imagine they would go so far and risk so much just for some territory."

"If it's nothing to do with territory then it could be personal," Lance suggests, "Sam, does your sister have any enemies?"

"I don't know how you could assume I would know but I highly doubt it," Samantha responds bluntly.

"Sorry," Lance cringes.

Samantha pats Lance's shoulder gently. She's never told anyone but Gaspard the full story about what happened between her and Elly so she shouldn't expect them to be aware of quite how sensitive the subject is or how bad the separation was between them. She has to begin facing the facts; she's going to be questioned, poked and prodded for answers just as much as she is doing so to her sister.

"If it was personal to Elly only, then I think taking out the whole pack is a bit extreme," Nathan says, "Then again, even if it was against the whole pack, that's still taking it far."

"We have no choice but to assume it's an isolated event linked to Elly and her pack," Gaspard sighs.

"Unless something like this happens to another pack," Victoria adds.

"I seriously hope that it doesn't come to that," Gaspard replies.

"But if it does?" Victoria questions.

"If it does then we'll have to act very quickly to find and stop these wolves," Gaspard answers.

"Don't worry," Ian smiles, "We'll stop them in no time; just send Sam after them."

"Oi," Samantha exclaims, "I'm not a weapon to be used at everyone's disposal!"

"I know, sweetheart," Ian grins, "But you aren't half good at bringing down the bad guys."

Samantha rolls her eyes at the pub owner.

"I guess that settles it then," Gaspard states, "Keep your eyes and ears open, all of you. Anything weird happens, anything at all, let me know."

"Sir! Yes! Sir!" Imogen cries.

Gaspard smiles at his pack as they gather their belonging and pull their coats from the hooks. As Lance opens the door, he comes face to face with Rosie, who is accompanied another girl and three boys, two of which are holding hands and the other very familiar.

"Lance!" Rosie exclaims.

"Alright, kitty cat" Lance beams.

"I wasn't expecting you to be here," Rosie replies.

"We have the whole pack," he says, assuming that Rosie's friends won't understand the reference to werewolves.

"Wow, special occasion?" Rosie asks.

"That's one word for it," Lance sighs.

"Um, are we invading?" Rosie's friend, Felicia, queries.

"No, no, we're just leaving," Lance smiles, standing aside to allow them in.

Rosie and her friends enter the house, greeting the members of the pack as she passes by. When the others have eventually filed out, the shifter looks towards Samantha and Gaspard.

"Should I have called?" she asks.

"No," Gaspard shakes his head.

"Ok, cool," Rosie sighs with relief, she isn't in trouble, "You remember Felicia, Laurence and Joe don't you?"

The two wolves look at Rosie's friends. They were at the eighteenth birthday party they threw a couple of months ago.

"Yeah," Gaspard nods.

"No," Samantha shakes her head.

"You can't remember a lot from that night," Gaspard smirks.

Samantha scowls at him, not noticing the small smiles of the three friends forming upon memories of her drunken performance that night.

"Ok, well, we're going to go upstairs and leave you two to it," Rosie says before turning to her friends, "I'll be up in a minute."

"Don't take too long," Joe beams, "We have a lot of Vampire Diaries to get through."

Tyson gives Rosie a look of despair before following the group to her bedroom. Samantha purses her lips to stop herself from laughing; if only they knew.

"What in earth is going on?" Rosie asks, keeping her voice low, "Why was the pack here?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about," Gaspard replies.

"I'm not stupid and I'm fully aware that, unless it's a weekend barbecue, the pack only come over when there's something bad going on," Rosie frowns.

"Rosie, don't do this now," Gaspard warns.

"It's to do with Elly, isn't it?" Rosie questions.

"Leave it alone," Gaspard growls.

As scary as Samantha is when she's angry, Gaspard's temper can be equally as frightening when it surfaces. Rosie doesn't want to push it so she resorts to huffing and walking away.

"Gaspard, she's a teenager. It's her job to be persistent and annoying," Samantha states.

Gaspard puts his hand on his hip and holds the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb.

"I know," Gaspard says.

"I'm aware that what the pack has said things to making it seems like there's some sort of inevitable danger looming over our heads but we still don't know if..."

"That's the problem. We don't know. And we won't until something else goes wrong."

"If something goes wrong; it's only if."

"We have to tell the other packs," Gaspard says, turning to look at Samantha, "We have to let them know just in case. I wouldn't be able to live with myself of one of them ends up like Elly knowing I could have warned them."

"Alright, we'll round up the pack masters and let them know," Samantha agrees.

Gaspard nods slowly and looks at the floor. Samantha steps up onto the sofa, bringing herself above his height, and puts her small, soft-skinned hand on his cheek. He closes his eyes and smiles as she strokes her thumb over the long scar that runs in a curve from the bridge of his nose round to his jaw.

"I'm stressed," Gaspard sighs, "I hate to admit it, but I am."

Gaspard steps closer to Samantha and puts his arms around her waist. She strokes his soft hair whilst he rests his head on her chest.

"It's ok," Samantha comforts him.


End file.
